The West Wing is a beloved American political drama which first came out in 1999 and had a very successful run on channel NBC until 2006.
With presidential advisers getting their personal lives tangled up with professional duties, the drama series centred around fictional Democratic President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen.
Written by Aaron Sorkin, the show was the first to use and introduce the writer’s famous walking and talking shots.
READ NEXT: Margot Robbie reveals rule to not date actors as it’s ‘double the scrutiny’
With the dad of a famous actor and an actor with a link to Meghan Markle, the cast of The West Wing has many big names woven throughout the seven year long series.
Martin Sheen (Josiah Bartlet)
(Image: CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Martin Sheen is famed for playing lead role Josiah Bartlet, which ended up earning him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in Television Series Drama back in 2001.
The Hollywood actor has most recently starred in the hit Netflix comedy Grace and Frankie alongside his former West Wing costar Lily Tomlin.
He also shared the screen with his son Charlie Sheen in the hit comedy Anger Management between 2012 and 2014, and he played Uncle Ben in the 2012 blockbuster The Amazing Spider-Man.
Martin also kept up with his West Wing costars and invited several of them to his birthday in 2018.
The actor has been arrested more than 60 times – 66 in fact – due to acts of civil disobedience while joining protests for causes close to his heart.
Back in 2020, he was arrested when participating in a climate change protest organised by pal and co-star Jane Fonda.
Allison Janney (CJ Cregg)
(Image: Variety via Getty Images)
During her stint on the show, where she played the press secretary CJ Cregg Janney she bagged four Emmys.
Janney picked up a Guest Actress Emmy for her role as Margaret Scully in the 2013 to 2016 Showtime period drama Masters of Sex and two Supporting Actress Emmys for her current role as Bonnie Plunkett on the CBS sitcom Mom.
She also landed major roles in film, with recent scene-stealing parts in 2017’s I, Tonya, for which she won an Oscar.
Allison has never been married or had kids, saying she never had “that instinct” to have a family.
When she won her Oscar in 2018, she dedicated the award to her late brother Hal, who battled a drug addiction before tragically taking his own life.
Rob Lowe (Sam Seaborn)
(Image: PGA TOUR)
Rob Lowe was already a massive star on the show following his success on Brat Pack in the 80s, and his debut acting stint when he was 15 in A New Kind of Family.
Following his time on the show, he has been a series regular on Parks and Recreation, The Grinder and 9-1-1: LoneStar and has made appearances in numerous TV movies.
He also directed and starred in the 2018 Lifetime movie The Bad Seed.
More recently, the actor has paired up with none other than his son, John Owen Lowe, 28, for a new Netflix comedy series called Unstable, as they seem to make the perfect father-son comedic duo.
Weirdly, his son recently spoke about his father’s sex tape, saying he found out about it after a kid at school told him.
The sex tape was filmed in 1988 when Rob was 24, with a 22-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl, though he denied knowing she was underage.
The teenager was the age of consent but she was too young to be filmed, and her family launched a lawsuit.
Rob settled the lawsuit and was never charged with a crime.
Bradley Whitford (Josh Lyman)
(Image: Peter Kramer/NBC via Getty Images)
Bradley won an Emmy for his role as Josh Lyman in the hit political drama.
He’s worked steadily in movies and television since The West Wing ended.
The actor collaborated with creator Aaron Sorkin for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, where he starred alongside Matthew Perry and Sarah Paulson on the NBC drama
Hit roles include a lead in The Handmaid’s Tale and Jordan Peele’s film Get Out.
More recently, he led the cast of the one-season NBC musical comedy Perfect Harmony.
Aside from acting, Bradley has been a vocal supporter of abortion rights and other political causes.
Richard Schiff (Toby Ziegler)
(Image: FilmMagic)
Richard earned an Emmy for his role as the serious, moral White House communications director on the show.
Since the show ended, he saw recurring roles on Showtime’s 2014 to 2019 drama The Affair and HBO’s series Ballers.
He also reunited with his The West Wing co-star Rob Lowe in both the 2012 film Knife Fight and two episodes of the 2015 Fox comedy The Grinder.
Richard left fans concerned in 2020 when he revealed he had been hospitalised due to Covid.
Luckily, his wife Sheila Kelley, who was also positive, was “doing better” and at home, before Richard was released from hospital days later.
Janel Moloney (Donna Moss)
(Image: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
Since leaving the show, she has guest-starred on the 2009 to 2016 CBS drama The Good Wife and NBC’s The Blacklist.
Janel had a recurring role on ABC’s 2015 to 2017 anthology American Crime and starred in The Leftovers on HBO from 2014 to 2017.
Aside from that, she appeared on the HBO series The Undoing alongside Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant in 2020.
Dulé Hill (Charlie Young)
(Image: Getty Images,)
New Jersey-born Karim Dulé Hill is best known for his role of personal presidential aide and Deputy Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff Charlie Young on the NBC drama.
Dulé even earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and pharmaceutical salesman-private detective Burton “Gus” Guster on the USA Network television comedy-drama Psych.
Aside from his roles in The West Wing and Psych, he has had a few minor roles, such as in Holes, The Guardian and She’s All That.
Suits fans might recognise Dulé from season eight and nine of the hit American legal drama, which is best-known for starring Meghan Markle before she married into the British Royal Family.
READ NEXT:
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
